I am back in the UK. I have no job, no money, no home and no prospects and yet, I continue to hike. Don’t worry though, I am applying for stuff, promise! I have some hiking trails coming up whilst I apply for jobs so keep an eye out!

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Day 1 | Cannich to Dog Falls | 7km

Twig left her car in Drumnadrochit (henceforth known as Drum), just parked on a residential street. Let’s hope they don’t get too mad! We’ll only be gone for several days anyway, and it wasn’t in anyone’s way!

Her friend’s mother then picked us up and gave us a lift to Cannich where she kindly dropped us off at the top of the mountain road. It was late, probably close to 18:30 or later but the sun wasn’t setting yet! I actually had no water on me, but I wasn’t stressed, Scotland is so wet that you’re bound to find drinkable water before long.

We bid Twig’s friend’s mother adieu and then proceeded along a forestry track, through Comar Wood. Very easy walking. I had my walking boots on by the way. I would ideally do this in trail shoes since I am a full convert now, but my current trail shoes are just a wee bit knackered and I wanted to try using my leather boots once more! I thought this two/three day excursion was a perfect opportunity to do just that! Plus, there was a suggestion of climbing some Munros when we got to Morvich, and mountain boots are better for that…

We wandered along this forestry route, chatting about this, that and the other before we descended down into Dog Falls car park. The sun was also descending and was nearing sunset, so we set up camp. There were signs saying that there was strictly no camping here… But there was no one about, it was a week day, and we didn’t want to go further on. Especially since there was shelter and a toilet about!

Therefore, we set up the tent behind the facilities on some rather uneven ground and climbed into our beds. Twig put on some water and before long, we were in our sleeping bags, eating our food carefully. No rain quite yet!

Day 2 | Dog Falls to Camban Bothy | 29km

Well, it rained during the night. I woke several times from it hammering against the outer fly, but the tent stayed true and we woke in relative dryness! Success! There was even patches of blue sky when I climbed carefully out of the tent!

We packed up, and then ate our breakfast on a picnic bench in the car park as the sun rose, lighting all the drops on all the trees like a thousand little jewels. Truly stunning, I kid you not. A subtle beauty. The sun disappeared behind some clouds and we also disappeared, heading off up the trail.

The path was just a forestry track though and it climbed steadily before levelling off. We got brief views of Loch Beinn a’Mheadhoin (no idea how you pronounce that…), the best one coming at a signposted viewpoint. The rain was just about starting now as well and we were unsure whether we should have our hoods up or hoods down… Like, we put our hoods up and it stopped raining. We put our hoods down and it started up again!… Frustrating!

Still, we motored along. We saw no one else really. Sure, a trail runner ran past us at one point, and we bumped into two vans, both drivers seeming lost. Additionally, we past two elderly hikers going the opposite direction who only smiled at us and told us to “get yer wellys oot!” – I guess there was a lot of boggy terrain coming up! Eek!

Twig and I turned a corner though and came across a view of Affric Lodge and we sat, just off the path, looking over the vista in quiet for a while. Affric lodge was a great, grey building perched on the edge of Loch Affric, highlighted with white paint and black shadows. Sgùrr na Lapaich towered over it as well, it’s white snowy peak casting a grey shadow over the loch. The lodge was gothic, and you could easily see an Agatha Christie murder mystery being set there. You know, deep in the Scottish highlands, a party of rich and sophisticated aristocrats enjoying themselves until the host turns up dead or something. Like a game of Cluedo. There were little, orange twinkling lights inside the lodge though and it was the only sign of light and life about the building.

It was kinda spoilt by the modern, glass house right beside it… But if you ignored that then it was the stereotypical Scottish lodge.

The rain got heavier when we got moving again and it was just minging weather in general. There was a cold breeze as well. When we reached the end of Loch Affric then we saw a little horse shed thing down by the shore which we went down to in order to get out of the rain. We sat on the porch, out of the wind and rain and ate our lunch looking over Loch Affric. Good lunch spot for sure! I hung up my jacket in an attempt for it to drip dry a little. It did not dry a single jot though. I tried.

We resumed the hike, stepping back out into cold, sideways drizzle as a stiff breeze made us work to get warm again. We walked along the edge of the River Affric until we resumed the path, passing Strawberry Cottage. There was nothing ‘strawberries’ about it though, it was just a whitewashed stone house smack bang in the middle of the glen, hunched down. A drystone sheep pen was close by. I guess it might be occupied only in summer?

We continued alongside the River Affric, the drizzle coming in droves. Occasionally it was light, occasionally it was heavy. Sounds miserable, right? Well, it wasn’t actually all that bad. The highlands were providing their unique sense of beauty after all. Mountains were on all sides of us, each peak one of the 282 Munros that Twig was aiming to climb in her life. But not today, they were all snow-capped and we didn’t have the experience/energy/desire to attempt them in these conditions. We were thinking about doing the Kintail Sisters (and Brothers too maybe!) when we got to Morvich, but seeing the snowy mountains, we weren’t so sure we wanted to since we would get zero views and have a genuinely torrid time.

However, what we did come across was the most remote YHA in the UK! Alltbeithe YHA was a green building and heavily reminded me of some of the huts in NZ! We went in, taking our boots off and leaving our packs and waterproofs in the porch. The owner came out and brought us into the kitchen to warm up and give us a free cup of tea! We did give a donation in thanks, all the change we had, 75p. I felt it would be rude giving him Australian and NZ dollars… There were other hikers here and I had a good natter with a guy about rugby for a while. On the whole though, it felt like a highland retreat. There was a couple in an armchair, reading. Two hikers were discussing routes with several OS maps spread haphazardly over a table and from around the corner in the other room, we heard the rattle of Scrabble letters in that soft, cloth bag. There was a crackling fire and everyone was drinking hot tea. A haven. If you concentrated, you could just about hear the drizzle outside, but on the whole it was oh so cosy.

However, we weren’t staying and so after an hour, we got up and went back outside again where we discovered much to our relief, the weather had calmed down and there was no rain about! Winning! The bothy where we were staying was only an hour down the path, what a great day!

We set off again, rejuvenated from the tea, warmth and hospitality of Alltbeithe YHA and pushed on. We took the left branch in the path, leading us into Gleann Lichd and before long, we saw the red roof of Camban Bothy. Four stone walls and (luckily!) a roof. It was unlocked as well, even better! Although, I had to stoop as I walked through the door and so very nearly hit my head…

We were the only ones there and we nabbed a room. I mean, this bothy was luxury, it even had plywood platforms built in that we could sleep on rather than the cold, stone floor! Couldn’t ask for more! It was sat directly opposite Ciste Dhubh, another Munro capped in snow and blending into the clouds. We could peer through the small, single pane, grubby windows and look upon this mountain as we set up for the evening and started making dinner. There were also some light-controlled fairy lights that someone had left and when it got dark enough, they switched themselves on, lighting up the room. How quirky, I love it! I can imagine this bothy in torrential snow and rain, not a single living soul in a hundred kilometres and yet, these fairy lights will light up every evening and provide a glimmer against the horrendous conditions. Kinda… lonely and romantic maybe?

I headed to sleep, fairly content. Sure, the weather was against us, but that’s Scotland and we were in high spirits from a day filled with stunning, unique and moody views!   

Day 3 | Camban Bothy to Morvich | 13km

Unfortunately, Twig didn’t get much sleep last night. Some people showed up close to midnight, headtorches on and woke us both up. They settled in the other room though so all was well. A coffee was a must for her though as we prepared our breakfast in the bothy. We were trying to be relatively quiet for the people who were also here in the next room. We were packed up and ready to go before long though.

There was a bus back to Drum at 10:30 and we estimated that it would take us three or so hours to get to Morvich from here. Therefore, having been up at 06:00, we got away just past 07:00. Fingers crossed for enough time!

The mountains were beautiful in the morning. Moody and brooding. A Turner painting come to life. The snow capped mountain tops blended in with the clouds and white sky. The sheer, black rock faces were stark against the pure, pale snow.

Walking down Gleann Lichd was a treat in of itself. Yes, the sun wasn’t shining and clouds swirled around the mountains and it was genuinely very cold… But it was just a unique beauty, only found in Scotland for sure. We clambered over and around rocky humps in the ground, winding our way down the glen, a river to our left. We even passed a crashing waterfall at one point. It came out of nowhere, suddenly our ears registered a crashing and we turned a corner to find a basin with a waterfall splashing down into it. Lichen covered all the rocks and the path led its way in a big curve around the basin, a slippery slope falling away to our left. Careful now.

Eventually, we descended and crossed the Allt Grànnda and started along a 4WD track along the valley floor, following the River Croe which twisted and winded it’s way down the glen towards Morvich. There were sheep all around us, bleating in fright as we made our way past them, their fluffy tails bouncing as they ran away. Sheep everywhere. We also passed Glenlicht House owned by EUMC, a sign on the front of it saying that it was made in memory of two student mountaineers who died on Ben Nevis during a storm.

Well, we bombed down this track until we got some signal and found ourselves in Morvich, a hamlet on the road to Skye. Road walking along, we got to the Pitstop, a café which the bus stopped at. We were early and so we waited until the bus showed up. We jumped on (thankful that there were two seats left!), our brief excursion into the highlands over for now.

Thank you Twig for the idea and driving us up! I still owe you petrol money, I’ll pay you when I’m slightly more liquid, promise!